Numbers 1:1-54

NUMBERS!  I know so many people who groan at the thought of reading through Numbers, and I partially understand.  There are in fact a lot of numbers in the book (so we can definitely say it's aptly named).  But there are also stories, some really great stories.  Previously, when I've read through the Bible, Numbers seemed like a really great respite after reading Law since basically Exodus 20. 

Here's the thing, though: the numbers in this Book are actually rather significant, and telling.  Here in the first chapter we see that Israel is commanded to take a census of all warrior-aged men in Israel.  This is significant because it gives us an idea of how strong the Israelite fighting forces would have been in this time of sojourning (and preparing to take over a homeland).  Also, it excludes all females and males not of soldiering age.  Which means there were far more Israelites in the camp at Sinai than are listed in this chapter.  According to the census, there were 603,550 men able to go to war.  Just men.  Just men who could go to war.  It'd be twice that if each of these men had a wife.  Even more if many of them had children.  Can you imagine, a camp of at least one million people gathered at the base of Mt. Sinai?  No wonder other nations were intimidated when the Israelites came wandering near!  They'd fear for their food stores, at the very least!  Notice, that this doesn't even include Levite males.  The Levites were dedicated to the care of the Tabernacle (and later the Temple), with all of its furnishings and instruments and other accoutrements.  Did this mean that the Levites were completley exempt from war?  No.  We'll see later in our reading (though I can't remember exactly where at the moment) where the Levites are sent first into battle as a guard, and that as long as they marched forward, the battle was in favor of the Israelites.  However, God said that they were not to be part of the census, and so their numbers were neither listed nor taken.

We'll see that their numbers really will play a role in the Israelites' journey from Sinai.  However, that isn't until chapter ten, so we have a little while.  There is more of the Law yet to be read.

Tomorrow's Reading: Numbers 2:1-34